Sunday, September 25, 2005

"There must be two distinct camps and so all Muslims must leave Europe," said Mr Bakri, declaring that he was convinced "the Islamic flag will fly one day over Downing Street".

You remember Omar - he got the boot from the UK last August and good riddance to him. While his ouster from the UK makes this announcement less than startling it is important to remember the Ramadan Offensive?

Well, well, well. I've got a Downing Street Memo for you Omar and all your little Islamic terror fiends. Mecca will be glass before you fly the flag of Islam in England. And you can take that to the bank, chum.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Barbie Dolls are hard to find in the Middle East these days. In her place is Fulla, a dark eyed doll with Muslim values.

In a classic case of if you can't beat 'em join 'em NewBoy Co out of Syria is marketing Fulla and good Muslims who would never dream of buying the infidel Barbie are shelling out for Fulla like crazy. She retails in Damascus for about 825 Syrian lira/$16 US (clothes sold separately, don't ya know) and in a place where average income per capita is $100US a month that ain't hay.

Other dolls have donned the hijab in hopes of capturing the Islamic youth market. Mattel has a Moroccan Barbie and Leila, a slave in the Ottoman empire (nyuk-nyuk). In Iran, there's a veiled doll named Sara and Michigan brings us Razanne. Fulla has left them in the sand

Barbie smacks Fulla down in the boyfriend department, though. According to NewBoy Fulla won't ever have a boyfriend.

What's the Arab street saying?

The girls love 'em and are as annoying about them as my niece is with her Barbies. Parents do complain about the expense but like the positive Islamic role model Fulla represents.

"emblematic of a trend toward Islamic conservatism sweeping the Middle East. Though statistics are hard to come by, he said, the percentage of young Arab women who wear the hijab is far higher now than it was a decade ago, and though many girls are wearing it by choice, others are being pressured to do so."

Iraqi forces in Basra have been taken over/infiltrated by radical elements of the Badr Brigades. That wack job Moqtada al Sadr is mixing it up there and our mullah pals in Iran have jumped into the fray as well.

Violence has been escalating. A stringer for the NY Times was killed in Basra. Some high-ups in the Shia Mehdi had been picked up for violent terror acts and that made the natives restless.

Then the Iraqi police nabbed two SAS guys. They were out of uniform and it sounds like something was going down as they shot one Iraqi police guy and wounded another. The Iraqi police held the Brits and were not cooperating with the British authorities in their release. When the Brits got word that their chaps had been handed over to the Shia militia and moved to a new location they didn't like it. Calls were made up the Basra chain of command and the diplomatic food chain without appropriate response.

So they called in the 12th Mechanized Brigade to storm the station. At the point of a 30mm cannon, the Iraqi police told the Brits where the men were and in a daring and well-timed raid the Brits got them out. Three soldiers were injured and they lost an armored vehicle.

'Police infiltrated'The BBC's Paul Wood said none of Basra's 20,000 police officers had helped the UK troops "partly because of reticence by their commanders, partly because, I am afraid, they have been infiltrated by these militants".

Now, don't get me wrong. I love the Brits. But a lot of the Brits have questioned our military approach and dissed our style, claiming that their "Softly, softly" approach was the right way to win the war on terror.

"...in Basra it's all a bit different. We stop here and there, and get out, and talk to people. Out on patrol the British soldiers sling their helmets from their belts and wear soft hats and buy cans of Coke from street stalls. Softly, softly.

British troops have adopted a "softly, softly" approach in Basra and since the Moqtada al-Sadr uprising in August was suppressed, Basra has been pretty quiet. Brigadier Andrew Kennet believes that "softly, softly" pays off.

He told me "I did not raze Basra to the ground, but I could have done."

British soldiers have been resuming duties in the centre of Basra despite a vow from local politicians to withdraw co-operation if the British Government refuses to apologise for mounting an armed rescue raid. Mohammed al-Waili, the Basra governor, has threatened to sever ties with UK troops unless Prime Minister Tony Blair pledges not to repeat Monday's operation, which left five Iraqis dead and saw armoured vehicles break down the walls of a jail. But the Ministry of Defence said they are now stepping up patrols in Basra "progressively" following days of tension and protests.

No, those dhimmis over at Sky News called this article about the UK's lame task forces full of the usual suspects like Tariq Ramadan and that goofball, I'm-being-followed-by-a-moonshadow, Cat Stevens TACKLING MUSLIM FANATICS

Proposals to combat Muslim extremism in the UK are set to be revealed.

Seven task forces were set up after the July London bombings by Home Secretary Charles Clarke.

Members are now due to release their plans to tackle Islamic radicalism and improve community cohesion.

Home Office officials are refusing to reveal details in advance.

Task force members included Islamic academic Tariq Ramadan who is banned from entering the United States and has been accused of making statements supporting terrorism.

Singer Yusuf Islam, previously known as Cat Stevens, is also a member of the committees.

Mr Clarke and three senior members of the groups will unveil the proposals in London.

The Home Secretary has already announced the creation of a Commission on Integration and Cohesion which is due to produce its full report by next summer.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

A young Turkish man told a Berlin court Wednesday that he murdered his sister, Hatin Sürücü, earlier this year because he didn't approve of her lifestyle.

His two brothers, age 24 and 26, are also on trial and her death attracted nationwide attention after she was shot dead at a Berlin bus stop last February. To me, she sounds like an interesting, young woman who just wanted to become a member of the 21st century.

Hatin Sürücü,23, grew up in Germany but was forced into a marriage with a cousin from Turkey in 1998. Her son was born in Berlin in May 1999, and Sürücü subsequently refused to return to Turkey. Six months later, she moved out of her parents home and began to train as an electrician, turning her back on her conservative family. She also abandoned hijab.

As is often the case, the youngest took the rap to take advantage of lighter criminal penalties. He even expressed remorse in the hope that the quality of mercy would not be strained.

"I killed my sister, and I acted alone," said 19-year-old Ayhan S. via his lawyer. "Today, I can can no longer understand my actions."

Romney said that if U.S. intelligence officials have information that a person is "preaching messages of hate and terror," then there should be sufficient grounds to conduct surveillance on them in their places of worship.

"Surely, we have to recognize that some of this has gone on in mosques in the past," Romney said. "Most mosques are teaching doctrines of love and consideration, but there have been places of extremism where certain teachers have been identified as having been involved in or led to terrorist attacks. Let's not pretend that's not the case."

"When it comes to protecting our citizens, there is no place for political correctness," Romney said at an unrelated press conference. "We should be doing more in terms of intelligence and counterterrorism in the state to protect ourselves from terrorists. We spend a lot of our resources thinking about response, but response can't protect us. We have to be able to prevent attacks."

The sisters of the wah-wah chorus chime in:

Merrie Najimy, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Massachusetts, said Romney's comments "outraged" many Muslims, who feel as though they have been under surveillance and profiled since the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

"When you do blanket surveillance without specific intelligence, then the whole community becomes suspect," said Najimy, who is also a teacher at Thoreau Elementary School in Concord. "When the leader of this state puts out statements like that, it encourages fear and hate toward a community they don't understand. It encourages hate crimes and general meanness."

Ahmad Khadir Shahd al-Ghariri, an Ansar al-Sunna leader operating in the Larifaya district, the so-called 'triangle of death", was picked up by Iraqi security forces, the al-Mada neswpaper said.

Police chief Muhammad Abu Kahila was cited by the newspaper as saying that the militant leader had cut the throats of at least 15 people and carried out attacks on Iraqi police patrols and American troops. He was the head of a group of 15 militants and is thought to have been captured inside a hotel in the city of Samawa, south of the capital.

And then there's these scumbags:

In another operation, police also arrested four criminals responsible for the kidnapping and sexual assault of young women in the area south of Baghdad. The four have admitted to kidnapping and raping four female students who were on their way to university, demanding a ransom of 25,000 dollars for each girl.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Romney said in a speech to the Heritage Foundation that the United States needs to radically rethink how it guards itself against terrorism.

''How many individuals are coming to our state and going to those institutions who have come from terrorist-sponsored states?" he said, referring to foreign students who attend universities in Massachusetts. ''Do we know where they are? Are we tracking them?"

''How about people who are in settings -- mosques, for instance -- that may be teaching doctrines of hate and terror," Romney continued. ''Are we monitoring that? Are we wiretapping? Are we following what's going on?"

I was driving back to Princeton from a quick trip out of town to tend to some family matters via the PA turnpike (a brutally boring drive)when I saw a billboard advertising www.WhyIslam.org

This billboard said it was sponsored by Islamic Circle of North America and it piqued my interest. I visited the site and was encouraged to: ask a question, visit a mosque, correspond by email. On the face it seemed relatively harmless but digging a little deeper and finding articles like, The Veil Has Set Us Free, made me uncomfortable.

Who the heck are these guys, I wondered.

Well, according to the Militant Islam Monitor they are linked with Al Qaeda and

make no secret of their goal to train Muslims to implement a United States of Shari'a and reminds them of 'Islam as a universal and eternal way of living for mankind.'

They have formed the Islamic Learning Foundation to "enrich the lives of Muslims in general and Muslim youth in particular" Why?

The main objective for ILF is enriching the lives of Muslims in general and Muslim Youth in particular by educating their minds and affecting their hearts with sound knowledge of Islamic Shariah thus deepening their awareness of Islam as a universal and eternal way of living for mankind and providing a new caliber of Muslim leaders.

Now, I don't know about you, but this sounds like Madrassa home schools to me. Especially when our ICNA/ILF pals go on to state that Most Muslims get their Islamic knowledge from: Islamic lectures, listening to audio-video tapes and going to conferences and conventions. Maybe like this weekend's fiesta at Six Flags?

They hired some guy named Sheikh Ibrahim Negm to head up this "learning foundation" and according to MIM:

The new head of the ILF is Ibrahim Negm, who not surprisingly was given a fellowship to conduct research at Harvard Law School. Given that Harvard has an Islamic law program which is Saudi and Bin Laden family funded, it should come as no surprise that Negm had no problem going from Harvard to assistant researcher of the Graduate School of Social Sciences which was raided for terrorism support and funding. Negm's affiliation with Al Qaeda linked ICNA would be considered an asset on his CV. It is also worth noting that Negm's speakers bio on the ICNA website adds the fact that he "memorised the Koran as a child" and that his father was active in the Islamic Movement in Egypt which means the Muslim Brotherhood, the group which was responsible for the assassination of Sadat and whose list of founders includes Bin Laden mentor Abdullah Azzam.

Here is the curriculum for this fall's courses on al-Aqidah or al-itiqad:

"The firm creed that one's heart is fixed upon without any wavering or doubt. It excludes any supposition, doubt or suspicion. The Quran gives this serious matter the name Iman."

The ILF closes their pitch for funds for these charter madrassas (will they get vouchers?) by quoting the everpresent Koran (66:6) "O you who believe; save yourself and your families from the fire..."

Digging a little deeper I find this tidbit about their ties to Pakistan's radical islamists, Jamma'at-i-Islamia, over at CNSNews.com. Read it all, it will tell you all you need to know about this outfit, including this.

The Islamic Circle of North America is one of a number of American Muslim groups currently under federal investigation for possible ties to al Qaeda and Palestinian terrorists. In December 2003, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), requesting detailed information on 25 U.S. Muslim organizations.

Wake up and smell the goat breath, people! They are breathing down our backs and would like nothing better than to have their foot on our necks...

P.S. I find that the handsome Patrick al Kafir at Clarity and Resolve has had a Why Islam billboard encounter, too. This one in South Florida and sponsored by those rats at CAIR. Feh.

P.P.S. There is definitely a vast red crescent conspiracy going on. There's an ad on a bus in Utica. Some background:

Farooqi hopes more will come from people such as Roger Perry, 21, of Oneida. Perry converted to Islam in October after reading articles on the WhyIslam? Web site.

"I thought I would look just to learn something new, but as I read, I realized that it really fit my beliefs," Perry said.

He called the hotline and converted by telephone, he said. Now, Perry prays five times daily and worships alongside refugees from eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East at the Muslim Community Association on Kemble Street, where Friday prayer services usually draw between 150 and 200 people.

Utica's Muslim population numbers up to 6,000, said Sabur Abdul-Salaam, the mosque's board president. Most, like the mosque's imam, are Bosnian Muslims, resettled through the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees.

Friday, September 09, 2005

Why it's art, Richard Deacon's All Sorts to be specific and it is also part of one of the most ambitious exhibitions of Western art seen in Iran since the revolution. Read all about it at the BBC. Catch the gist here: A collection of modern art that has spent much of the past 25 years in a vault has gone on public display in Iran for the first time. The exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts includes works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Gauguin, and Warhol. Most of the 188 works were purchased to further Iran's cultural activities by the wife of the late Shah. But the Shah's fall saw the collection locked away by an Islamic government opposed to Western influence. But with a recent shift to a hardline government, the future for similar displays is uncertain.

"It's a sensational show for all of us and, considering the political situation, it could be quite a controversial show as well," said Mr Samizar.

The show includes work from 13 British artists, their pieces carefully selected to conform to Iranian sensibilities - not an easy task when much of contemporary art focuses on the nude body. "We're not showing raw sex and full-frontal nudity," said Andrea Rose, visual arts director at the British Council.

And we're pc, too!

"We're taking it as far as we can," she added. Some pieces were withdrawn including two that featured a wheelchair and rubber crutches, because they were considered offensive to victims of the Iran-Iraq War

. I'm with this guy.

"But surprisingly for some, they allowed Mona Hatoum's Deep Throat - an endoscopic film of a journey through the artist's own body, projected onto a dinner plate. "This is not art," said an elderly man, as he looked incredulously at the video.

Shocka. Evidently some ya-hoo put an ad in some Pakistani fishwrap that offered a reward for killing an American. Any American. What's so shocking? This defense of America on the FaithFreedom.org website.

What is the subliminal message this woman is sending? The subliminal message is that every square inch of my body is private part, every square inch of it can make you horny. Therefore my entire body is an 'awrat, (lit. pudendum, genital) and I am a sex object from head to toe. People cover their private parts. This woman thinks her entire body is private part. Does this in anyway arouse respect? Only one who thinks with her genital may think so.

These women think they are 96% vagina 4% people.

These women have determined that all their bodies, except their faces, are extensions of their genitals, including their heads. Thinking with their genitals they can't distinguish the difference between their hair and their pubic hair. To them both are embarrassing and should be covered. Thinking with their genitals these ambulant vaginas are fighting for the right to be humiliated, beaten and treated as sex objects.

FaithFreedom asks us to:

"Spread this message and reproduce it in your site. Let all Muslim women know the world sees them exactly the way they see themselves and Muhammad described them - as 'awrat, pudenda, private part and deficient in intelligence. They think of themselves as nothing but a big vagina. As a matter of fact the word "woman" in Urdu is 'awrat. In Iran she is called zaifeh (weak). She is regarded weak both mentally and physically. Muslim women strive to be treated as 'awrat, a walking talking vagina. Why should we think of them differently? Combat stupidity with humiliation."

'Awrat or ambulant vaginas! These guys are really something.

Cherie Blair speaks out against Islam. Sort of. Goes on to state her long held wish to marry an Indian Prince or be the first female Prime Minister of the UK. God bless, Margaret Thatcher.

Here's what they did: Azahari drove a small white van past the large, fortified Embassy and made a u-turn. He motioned his stooge, Heri Golun, a recent convert and petty criminal into the driver's seat then hopped onto the back of the motorbike travelling behind them. The explosion soon followed, killing eleven Indonesians including the stooge. Speeding away from the scene, Azahari was stopped by a traffic cop. Alas, there was no Tim McVeigh moment and after waving a 50,000 rupiah note (about 8$)in the cops face to cover his "fine" he was on his way to watch television coverage of the event with his buddy Noordin. They reportedly discussed other targets to use their remaining 50 kgs of explosives on.

They also masterminded the 2002 Bali bombing:

And the 2003 bombing at the Jakarta Marriott hotel.

Despite a 300 strong, FBI trained, police task force, named Force 88 the two men remain on the loose. This has caused President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to warn of another imminent terrorist strike this month.

These two dirtbags represent the new force of terrorism in the region: The Psycho Players.

Rogue elements loosely aligned to Jemaal Islamiah but followers of the Al Qaeda doctrine of attacking anything Western. The fact that they've killed so many of their fellow citizens has caused them to be somewhat distanced from JI leadership which is their rogue element kicks in, increasing their unpredictability. Their affiliation with the network of sympathisers in the 18 JI Islamic schools is where they get their recruits. They have also cultivated contacts in the Islamic business community. Indonesia is teeming with Muslims that are committed to the establishment of an Islamic state based on Sharia.

And guess what? These guys have ties to the supposedly moderate, 30 million strong charitable organization, Muhammadiyah. One of its leading members, Joni Achmad Fauzani, was arrested for helping the fugitives.

It is rumored that Husin and Top have formed their own suicide brigade.

Let's pray to Allah (panties be upon him) for a faulty timing device to send these freaks of human nature into the cushiony laps of the 72 doe-eyed houris awaiting them.

WASHINGTON -- It will serve as a living tribute. With each wind, each breeze, a set of chimes housed in a 93-foot tower will create a different song in memory of the 40 people who sacrificed their lives trying to save the lives of others.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

I am well and truly done. I am in overwhelm. I have had to turn off the news because I can't listen to it anymore. I can't search the internet anymore for news. Instead, I will turn on my tunes, I will light the candles, I will pray for the world and I am going to try very hard to stay in the moment.

The Big Man and I will be heading over to the Yankee Doodle Tavern later this afternoon for a cocktail. Don't know where dinner will be yet. I have had a hankering for paella and Mediterra, a restaurant located just behind the Nassau Inn, makes one there I believe. Maybe, I will get lucky. Maybe, I will also be able to recharge the blog batteries. In the meantime here are some of interesting things spilling out of my overflowing, virtual in-box. I hope you enjoy.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Iran has pumped out about seven tons of the gas it needs for uranium enrichment since it restarted the process last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported Friday. A former U.N. nuclear inspector said that would be enough for an atomic weapon. In unusually strong language, an IAEA report also said despite its investigation, questions remain about key aspects of Iran's 18 years of clandestine nuclear activity and that it still was unable "to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran."

After Iran resumed conversion last month, key European nations set a Sept. 3 deadline for Tehran to reimpose its freeze of the process or face the threat of referral to the U.N. Security Council _ a warning most recently repeated last week by French President Jacques Chirac. The 35-nation IAEA board meets Sept. 19 on Iran and will debate options that could include a U.S.-EU push for Security Council referral. The Security Council, in turn, could impose sanctions _ although members China and Russia are believed to oppose sanctions. At a minimum, the issue would receive world attention if debated by the U.N.'s top body.

Coming to a theatre of war near you soon?

But with no word from Iran that it would cease conversion before the deadline of Sept. 3 _ Saturday _ there was little hope that Tehran was interested in deflecting the threat. The facility at Isfahan covers more than 150 acres spread along mountains outside the city. Parts were built in tunnels in the mountains as protection from airstrikes. The report said that in late August, Iran also informed the IAEA that it would move its tons of raw uranium feedstock needed for conversion into those tunnels, which diplomats familiar with Iran's nuclear program say have been hardened against "bunker buster" bombs like those that struck Taliban command centers deep underground in Afghanistan.

After a long absence and the delight of her legion of fans, the Saudi presenter Rania al Baz has returned to television screens for the first time since being a victim of domestic abuse and suffering multiple fractures to her face. The “new” Rania appeared on al Arabiya television on “Sabah al Arabiya (Good Morning al Arabiya) without her veil, the first Saudi television presenter to do so, in what many have described as a bold move. Despite much curiosity amongst audience members and the media, Rania refused to discuss the issue of the veil or reveal the identity of her stylist. Speaking exclusively to Asharq Al Awsat, the presenter revealed the emotional difficulties she faced after being attacked by her ex-husband.

Al-Zawahiri also spoke at some length on the reasons for the London attacks, and described them as "a slap to the policy of British Prime Minister Tony Blair".

"And just as Blair makes light of the blood of our brothers in Chechnya, Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan, so he also makes light of your blood too when he drew you into this war in Iraq."

The al-Qaida deputy characterised the blasts as a response to UK foreign policy "just as 9/11 was a response to America's". Al-Zawahiri vowed 'more attacks in enemy territory in near future'

Further, al-Zawahiri promised similar operations in "enemy territory" in the near future, particularly Europe - because it had ignored an offer of truce from al-Qaida's leader, Osama bin Ladin.

The deputy commander also directly addressed Muslim scholars in the West who condemned al-Qaida's attacks, asking them why they did not protest so loudly when "a million people starved in Iraq and when warplanes dropped bombs on innocent communities in Afghanistan ... and when Crusader forces bombed women and children in Falluja?"

“Jihad (holy struggle) is the only way to reform the Islamic nation. Expelling the infidels and invaders, the Jews and the Crusaders, will not be achieved by demonstrating and voicing one’s demands, but by jihad and war.

“Democracy is positivist religion that encourages atheism, by giving people the right to legislate, while Islam gives it exclusively to Allah.”

Thursday, September 01, 2005

I know I said that I wasn't going to write about Katrina but having said that I am going to write about Katrina. Here's why:

I'm a mama's girl, big time. I call my elderly and ailing mom in Ohio every day. Vacation is no exception. She's been extremely anxious and fretful since the hurricane and the thought that the Big Man and I could be down in NO this week has caused her to have lots of stinking thinking. I've been trying to talk her down and calm her down, but it's been kind of hard looking for the silver lining in this damn cloud. The only thing I could come up with? It's a stretch but I think it's true.

Is Katrina a blessing in disguise?

Will Katrina be the reason this country finally gets its act together?

Dirty bombs? Bio-weapons? If our Islamic enemies succeed in plotting another attack on a major metropolitan area Katrina may be the only reason this country survives.

We better get our act together.

I tried floating this by my mother to see if she bought it. She didn't. She is still anxious. I hung up and went about my blog business - checking out all my favorites, getting my first hat tip and trackback, getting really excited about it. listening to the hurricane coverage up in my office and just sucking up band width in the process - all the tv's on, flipping back and forth between Fox, CNN, Msnbc, Laura Ingraham on the Patriot via the internet. I was rocking...

Then the power went out. And you know what really ticked me off? My first thought.

"Wouldn't this be a great time for a terror attack?"

I can't tell you how much the pisses me off. You know why? Because if it wasn't for Al Qaeda and OBL it would never have entered my mind.

It's kind of like when I discovered post 9/11 that because of terrorism concerns the West Branch Dam had been blocked off. I used to love walking across the top of that damn dam when I went to visit my mom. Now I can't and it really annoys me. I know that sounds like a small thing, but that's just the sharp point of it. It is a small thing in my small world and it's all because of that isolated desert derelict, OBL.

It didn't take long for me to start jonesing without power - I really missed all stimuli of the cable news din I surround myself with. Without that, my dog heard the big man walking around in the bedroom upstairs for the first time in his life. He growled.

The power stayed off. The house started to get warm and stuffy.

I kept thinking about how happy OBL would be taking out the power grid along the eastern seaboard. And I kept thinking about those poor people in New Orleans. The more I thought, the more freaked out I was about getting some information about the power outage.

The power stayed off.

I started thinking about my disaster plan.

My disaster plan was a disaster and I really should know better with my disaster street cred.

My first disaster experience was domestic and occurred when I was a teen-aged babysitter. I was babysitting one Saturday night when one of the neighbors got drunk, went off and started firing off random potshots. (He was a Vietnam vet.) I put kitchen pots and pans on all the kids heads and we made a serpentine run for safety to get out of the way til the sheriff came.(I was the only girl in a neighborhood full of boys, Barbie and war were the games I played.)

I went on to have hurricane experience. My brother was getting married in Florida when Hurricane Floyd passed through. My grandfather, an old sailor from the Merchant Marine, had been in a bad storm at sea once down around the Cape. He said it scared the liver out of him. The hurricane approached and he literally worried himself sick ending up hospitalized with an acute G I Bleed. He was too sick to be moved and we were marooned at the hospital much like some of those poor people in NOLA. I know it was the thought of going through another one that drained him of his life force. He was in emergency surgery when the storm hit and he died on the table. Then during Hurrican Hugo, my brother was seriously injured trying to escape Raleigh NC during Hurricane Hugo. His so-called girlfriend at the time called my mom and asked her to wire her some money via Western Union. My mom did. She took the money and took off. He was sick for a long time and still has scars, mental and physical.

Not having learned my disaster lesson, I went on to have earthquake experience. I was stuck on the 39th floor of the Bank of America building during the World Series earthquake. I watched the lights go out in Candlestick, the collapse of the Bay Bridge and the Marina when it burst into flames all from the comfort of my office. I walked down 39 floors and proceeded to shuttle 25 employees (6 at a time) to spend the night at my home out in the Mission because they had no place else to go. I was shell shocked for quite a while after that but that was nothing compared to 9/11.

During my days on Wall Street, the World Trade Center was my stomping ground. I used to attend Gambling Nights in the Presidential suite at the Vista Hotel. 7 WTC (the third 9/11 building to collapse) was the hq for my old firm, Salomon Brothers. Watching it collapse after 9/11 was life changing.

Which brings me back to my pitiful disaster plan. What a disgrace! The batteries were dead in the boombox and I didn't have replacements even if I cabbaged them from all the flashlights in the house. 2 out of 3 flashlights were dead.) I had lots of bottled water but I had no ready cash stashed and even worse, I had left the car's gas tanks dip way below the 1/2 tank mark. Important papers all in one place? No. Copies of insurance information? Good luck.

I would have been well and truly f(*&ed if Katrina AL Qaeda had struck again. I was totally unprepared.

The power stayed out. I fixed my lunch while missing my favorite soap opera. (I wasn't too happy about that either.) I had a peanut butter sandwich and thought about the news clip I'd seen showing two little kids sitting in the grass, being given what looked like a peanut butter sandwich after being rescued from the flood waters. Man.

The power stayed out and the Big Man got ready to drive up to Stamford Ct (biz meeting - so much for our vacation.) He reminded me to keep the doors locked because a local homicidal maniac had escaped from the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and there was a BOLO alert for him in the neighborhood because he was from the neighboring town. This reminded me that the Mercer County Jail was located not too far up the river from our happy abode. I flashed on the sight of all those convicts lined up on the freeway ramp in New Orleans, forced to evacuate the jail due to flooding and now rumored to be among the rampaging looters.

Right then and there I resolved to start keeping a nice hunk of cash in the safe. I think I'm going to get a Glock and some ammo too, and keep that in the safe as well. I'm going to prepare a "go bag". I'm going to revisit my first aid kit to see what kind of shape it's in. I'm going to get a new radio - and batteries. I'm going to get important documents organized and I'm going to seriously pursue getting a portable generator because while I am going through this in my mind the power is still out. And I don't like it one bit. I am really feeling bad for those folks in NOLA.

But I'm still mad at OBL so I pull the car out of the garage and drive it up to the end of the driveway to pick up the XM signal and see if Al Qaeda had attacked the eastern seaboard.

He hadn't. Thank God.

The Big Man walks up from the house, gets in the car, cautions me about keeping the doors locked and drives off. I wave goodbye while fretting that we haven't definitively established our automatic meeting place in the event of nuclear holocaust.

The power was back on when I went back in.

The Big Man called from the car telling me he had seen a PGSE truck down at the end of the street doing some work.

If you read this blog (or happened to catch this)the Prezident of Iran recently announced his plans for the Islamic Republic to take over the world and since you can't tell your players without your program, here is the latest Islamic Org Chart. (I am only sorry I can't figure out a way to html powerpoint)

Hokay. Listen, up. According to the Prez, Mah-man Mah-moud, all power belongs to Allah. All power. So Allah is occupying the sky box on our org chart.

And because Allah is a teriffic manager, he's delegated the privilege of power to the Prophet Mohammed. Panties be upon in him in the next box down.

This is where the chart starts to remind me of the Salomon Brothers org chart back in the day when it was still a partnership because it gets horizontal real quick after the Prophet. Instead of Predator Partners like at Salomon. though, we have the 12 Infallible Imams. (Skirting real close to the Twelve Disciples, here? Jus' sayin') Here's the lineup for the Fighting Imams.

Now here's where the rubber meets the road. Because the 12th imam is in something called "grand occultation" - (eclipsed by the infidel) the task falls to the "chosen ones from the family of the Prophet", of course.

Who dat?

Dat's da man in da black headrag, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the "Supreme Guide" who claims to be descended from Hossein, the third Infallible Iman.

It's a funny thing about that third Infallible Imam. Check this out.

Hossein (A.S) was the hero of Ashura (the 10th day of Muharran when Imam Hossein (A.S) was martyred), the greatest epic event in man's history. He was born to Ali (A.S), the man of Justice and chastity and Her Holiness Fatima (A.S), the symbol of a Muslim woman, in the 4th year ah. and was raised and reared under the care and supervision of a father such as Ali (A.S), a grandfather such as Muhammad (S.A.W) and a mother like Fatimah (A.S). After the martyrdom of Imam Hasan (A.S) in 50 ah., caliph Mua`viah increased his pressure and ordered all his governors to delete the names of the Shiite Muslims (followers of Ali (A.S) from the rosters of the Muslim treasury and to apprehend and put to death any one accused of sympathy for Ali (A.S). Yazid succeeded his father Mua`viah as caliph and followed the path of his sire. He ordered that lmam Hossein swear allegiance to him and be slain should he refuse.

Imam Hossein did not yield to Yazid, this prototype of meanness and villainy. He resorted to the sword and undertook the fundamental Ashura move that he might thus kindle a light (of hope) amid the darkness (of oppression) and to initiate history's eternal epic event. By sacrificing his all, including the lives of himself, his kin and supporters in the path of God; Imam Hossein (A.S).became a model and example for all those who tread in the path of Truth. Many books have been written about the personality of Imam Hossein (A.S) and a great deal has been talked about him. Friend and foe testify to Imam Hossein's matchless courage, bravery, patience, forbearance, his challenge of cruelty and injustice, his courtesy and humility, his kindness and his compassion.

You know, except for that resorting to the sword part,doesn't this give you a this-sure-sounds-a-lot-like-Jesus-of Nazareth-vibe? Man. The symbolism is thick on the ground here. Jesus forgave his disciples and died on the cross blessing his kin and supporters, Imam Hossein was killed by the sword and took everyone with him! Giving me shivers, here people.

I guess this is where Ahmadinejad, the Iranian terrorist-in-chief comes in. He says he will fight any and all forms of democracy in Iran so I'm still kind of confused where that leaves him in the grand scheme of things since he was supposedly elected democratically - in fair elections, too. (wink-wink)

Clearly, he's got the ear of the man in the black headwrap somehow and it has empowered him to make bold statements on his view on a new world order.

He calls the US "the hegemon" and asserts that the Bush plan for the Greater Middle East is a device to slow down the decline of the United States as a superpower.

"Despite its pharaonic roars," the document claims, "the hegemon is in its last throes."

If you don't think that this dude is actively working, RIGHT NOW, to accomplish this you've got another think coming...

Mah-man Mahmoud isn't going to stop until we all end up in little, tight, boxes under the thumb of the Infallible Imams...

And after reading Amir Taheri's article over at Benador Associates I know we are. I missed the article's publication in the NY Post on 8/24 and I don't like to further clutter the blogosphere by recycling old items, but this was so compelling that I felt had to post it.

The drumbeat coming from Iran needs to be heard loud, clear and often.

Several weeks ago new Iranian President and Terrorist-in-chief, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued his master plan to the Islamic Majlis (parliament). In this master plan he states that

"Western ideas and concepts of government have no place in Islam."

While never mentioning democracy by name, he

"bravely rejects all alien political ideas as incompatible with Islam..."

Going on to say:

He'd not only fight any form of democratization in Iran, he'd mobilize the nation's resources to prevent the United States from imposing the Bush plan for a democratic future on the Middle East.

The Iranian Strategy?

Slowly slink away from their previous "policy" of allowing the US to establish friendly regimes in Kabul and Badhdad, all the while ensuring the steady drip, drip, drip of American and Iraqi blood through their funding of local terror.Not pretty, is it? Well, listen up and pay attention because we ARE going to have to jump ugly with these freaks. The terrorist-in-chief has more to say on the US.

"The document states that the region is heading for a 'clash of civilizations' in which the Islamic Republic represents Islam while the United States carries the banner of a West that has forgotten God."